FY!S is...

So if you constantly walk around with a stick up your ass, FY!S is not for you. If, however, you waltz through life wondering about...

"Is this it...?"

"What should I do now?"

"Ugh, am I the only one who is tired of all these fucking wedding and baby pictures on Facebook?"

...welcome! You're in good company.

FY!S is the interweb’s only manifestoon the good, the awesome, and the fugly about the Unconventional Life of an aspiring or current digital nomad, a.k.a fancy way of calling those people who have a laptop and do stuff online so they can be wherever they want.

There’s a lot of stuff to know about the digital nomad life that no one tells you about. Here are just a few of the things FY!S talks about:

Get Healthy Without a Gym

Because having the physical strength to lug around 30-40 pounds worth of crap while traveling is mucho important.

Boost Focus & Productivity

Get more shit done, better...and have the backbone to say no to things that don't help you.

Travel Smarter

All the cool coffee shops to work, places that have good internet, and see or eat the things that are worth your while.

FY!S is like the "secret" menu at your favorite fast food chains and you wondering where the hell it has been all your life. Welcome.

Hi, I'm Stephanie.

I'm Stephanie, a writer and the oddball behind FY!S. I know there are a lot of “digital nomad experts” to read, but I take a bit of a different approach than most:

I’m your honest BFF who will tell it how it is. To your face.

I believe this lifestyle needs all the extra emotional and physical help it can get.

I strive to make my content here better than anyone else’s stuff that you have to pay for.

Because while every other site on digital nomads is about “finding your passion” and promises you a field of hopes and rainbows, I’ll be over here telling you about the tears and vomit stains that so many of us are trying to cover up, and how to still be awesome despite you just wanting to scream.

Ready to Embrace Three Simple Words?

Fuck Yes! Saturday (or FYS) is a mindset and mantra for reminding you that some things shouldn’t wait. There shouldn’t be a wishy-washy grey area. It helps you act on things that make you yell “Fuck Yes!” because you’re genuinely excited for itand think you’d grow from the experience or decision, even if they’re scary as shit.

It’s the relentless pursuit of new and challenging opportunities for continual self-improvement and of doing, not just thinking “What would happen if…?”

Overall, it reminds you of your limited time and energy.

There’s never going to be a perfect time when you’ll have enough of both to do whatever it is you want to accomplish. Life always finds a way to spin you in this hamster wheel of wanting to chase something and leave you with the illusion of having “more time” later. You can put things off, thinking that “future you” will have more time or energy, but we both know “future you” is the same schmuck who will put things off yet again…

…unless you say “Fuck Yes” to the shit that actually matters to you in the long run and go for it.

See what happens.

The Three Rules Around FY!S

FY!S isn’t at all like invoking the power of YOLO and excusing yourself for being straight-up irresponsible. FY!S has three rules:

Do the thing that truly makes you honest and scream “Fuck Yes!”

Be pragmatic and ask yourself, “Is this something that I will regret in 15 minutes, 15 hours, 15 days, or 15 years from now?”

You continue to build a life and reputation that you can be proud of in 5, 10, or 20 years and beyond.

That means not running off and getting a tattoo because you want to flip a bird to the world. That means not quitting your job because someone stole your stapler.

If You’re Curious About Me, Let’s Dive Deeper

Between 2011-2015, I managed to turn my hobbies into a career. These were the sort of jobs that cute-bunnies-vomiting-rainbow-confetti-esque dreams were made of.

First, I played video games for work at IGN.com. Then I deadlifted and drank protein shakes at work with Bodybuilding.com. Not to mention the regular Nerf battles and beer pong and protein cake and flex-offs with co-workers. What more could a grown-ass girl like me ask for?

Apparently a lot, and let me tell you: I felt like an idiot for leaving these jobs.

IGN taught me a lot about the digital world, content, Nerf guns, and the fact that I never want a crazy commute ever again. When I worked at IGN, I spent three, sometimes up to six, soul-sucking hours on my daily commute. Never again.

But also, I didn’t have the guts to be who I was for fear of judgment and loud-mouthed dicks on the internet, so I constantly kicked myself down. I wouldn’t speak up. I didn’t even try. After that, I swore to myself that I would never let me hold myself back again. So I packed up all of my stuff in California, where I had lived all of my life, and moseyed on over to Boise, Idaho, where Bodybuilding.com awaited.

Despite initial misgivings from friends and family, Boise was the best decision I’d ever made for myself. I didn’t know it then, but my jump to Bodybuilding.com also begat my adventurous and daring spirit.

All because I said yes.

Not like a yes man or anything, but…

Yes to opportunities.

Yes to possibilities.

Yes to new friendships.

Yes to putting myself in situations for chance encounters, even if they were scary at the time or required a ton of work.

And it turns out that all the yeses led me to more and more opportunities and many possibilities that I couldn’t have predicted.

Long story short, I took a leap, not exactly sure what was going to happen. All I knew at the time was that I wanted freedom, a purpose, no commute, and to go to Japan. (I did go to Japan. For four months.)

FY!S simply started off as a day (usually Saturday, if that wasn’t clear) that I forced myself to take in order to break the nonstop hours and days of work. Ironically, being your own boss tends to do that. And so, FY!S lets me push aside all of my obligations, work, and worries for a day. It challenges me to say “Fuck Yes!” to the things I want to eat, see, or do that otherwise exists only as an idea and goes on to die because of procrastination, hesitation, and numerous other excuses.

And that’s how FY!S came to be…

My goal with this site is to share my honest experiences and lessons, as well as help you take Life by the Balls (But Have a Ball)…by living healthier, working smarter, and traveling more, without burning out.